Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Japanese tier 5 Chu Ni Kai prem tank review

First japanese tank in the game folks! And yes, I got it - I gave Serb some of my hard earned(not) monies.

So, Chi Nu Kai
First jap tank. That alone gives it some collector value but collector value alone is not enough.

The Chi Nu Kai is best described as...average. No serious weakpoints, no serious flaws but no great advantages either.

In terms of protection, the tank is very similar to the Panzer IV - some frontal armour - very weak sides. Like - 75mm HE penetrable sides. The Chi Nu Kai has a chance to bounce a shot on the mantlet on occasion but that's it. So, no - its nothing like the Matilda IV or the Churchill. At 480 HP, it lacks the advantage of the T-25 too - its barely stronger in the health department than regular tier 5 tanks.

Mobility wise at top speed of 38 kmph and 11 H.p/ton, the Chi Nu Kai feels sluggish. Its not outright slow, but its sluggish, especially at turning. That sort of delegates its purpose - hang back and snipe.
Which brings us to the gun...

Gun wise the Chi Nu Kai has a 75mm with above average pen and damage - 125 and a bit less RoF - 12. That dictates its tactics - peek-a-boo and sniping from a distance. Those extra 15 mm of penetration help it a lot, especially versus KV tanks. One more thing is the Prem shells. The Chi Nu Kai has an AP prem shell, not APCR. It has 155 penetration compared to the 158 of the Panzer IV APCR, however since its AP -it benefits from higher normalisation. Of course it still falls short to the 170-180mm pen. of prem shells for Tier 5 meds of other nations.

To sum it up - the Chi Nu Kai is not bad, but its not good either. It handles a specific play style - less agressive than average, which does not fit most players. Its decent credit earner however and it has a crew of 5 with all basic qualifications, which makes it great for training japanese crews.